hackeas: ideas that make you go ‘why didn’t i think of that!’

this hackea post is about quick and snappy repurposing. no big hack but neat ideas nonetheless.

slim solutions for narrow hallways
paula has a long narrow hallway that needed some lighting and storage. here’s what she did.

she says, “i had a long narrow hallway with 2 wall sconces. i was looking for a low profile lighting sconce and found these lock ceiling lamps. i painted the white bases with gold spray paint and wall mounted them. for the opposite wall i bought 2 three packs of trones shoe storage and mounted them side by side. the books are held by invisible bookshelves from the whitney museum.

simple clothes hanger
paul repurposes a shelf bracket for his shirts. he says, “the short story behind this is that a while ago i had a rather large ikea wardrobe that took up quite a bit of visual as well and physical space. because it was a bit aesthetically jarring i was looking for other smaller and simpler options. i looked at a lot of the clothes storage systems at ikea but couldn’t find anything minimalistic enough. when i was walking through the store one day (perversely not buying just looking!) …. i saw the slinga shelf bracket and thought it would make a good hanging rail for the clothes. a few screws and wall plugs later and voila. it’s been completely stable and frees up a lot more visual space while hanging the same amount of clothes as previously.”

summer lovin’ place mats
andrea uses place mats instead of table cloths for camping. she says, “this past summer my vinyl camping table cloth wore out and i couldn’t find a replacement that i liked. while in the as-is area at ikea, i found a bin loaded with place mats (possibly from the amulett or hurra range), shrink-wrapped in sets of four for like 95 cents. they are made of a stiff plastic-like material.

i bought a package to use on the picnic table when camping until i found a table cloth. as it turns out, i like them better for camping than table cloths or those floppy vinyl place mats you can get at other stores.

they clip into place with a table cloth clip (the silver piece each one has on it in the photos). as you see in the photos, i can re-position them on the table as i need them, so it isn’t a big deal that they don’t cover the whole table. it’s much easier to clean the back side than a table cloth. they are much more durable and they look sooo much nicer than a red-checked table cloth (which i’m not crazy about).”

The Author

Jules Yap "I am Jules, the engine behind IKEAHackers and the one who keeps this site up and running. My mission is to capture all the wonderful, inspiring, clever hacks and ideas for our much loved IKEA items".

10 Responses to hackeas: ideas that make you go ‘why didn’t i think of that!’

yes, yes…all good ideas with the stress, but did anyone notice the slight curve on the inside of the hanging rail just above the hangers – if the hook was hung upside down instead then the hangers would slide down this curve and gather at the front end of the slope…

that would be the only thing from preventing me flipping that thing too.

hey, i LOVE the clothes hanging idea. very nice. BUT I have to agree with Tim, on the balancing stress etc. But for the other reason of hiding the piece sticking out. its still a cool idea, but more pleasing to the eye without the “leftover” piece just pointing up there. But still very nice. I am gonna steal it thanks

I’m the guy who did the shelf bracket clothes rail hack. I’ve been reading the comments with interest and can’t really decide which is correct (i.e. which way up it should be)! I must admit though that when I put it up I didn’t really think about it. I can say that in the 2 years this has been up it’s been stable. Although we do have some good walls here which may have helped. Unfortunately I’m going to move out in a week but maybe I can try the alternative orientation when I get to my new place.

I feel like paul should flip his hack, doesn’t this seem like it would be putting the bulk of the stress on the screws when by flipping it you’d be using the extended bottom part to share the stress?

that paragraph probably doesn’t make sense, but if you think about how the weight pulls on where the stuff is affixed to the wall, you’d want to have the extension using the mount, rather than weighing on it

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